Saturday, January 9, 2016

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Will Have Global Multiplayer Battles Across the PlayStation Network

In late December at Jump Festa 2016, journalist Katrine Baumgardt of Gamereactor DK interviewed Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa. Habu, who was dubbed over a translator for the interview, discussed his approach in designing the game to recapture former fans that had grown up with Digimon. Rather than the fantasy tone of past games, Habu gave Cyber Sleuth a science fiction slant that would deal more in the real world and in the Digimon's true nature as computer viruses.

Towards the end of his time, Habu touched on changes and enhancements made to the international version of the game, confirming for the first time that Cyber Sleuth's online multiplayer component will work across the PlayStation Network to connect players from around the world. This will allow players from North America and Europe alike to compete against one another, greatly
expanding the number of available competitors. Prior to this, in Japan fledgling tournament play emerged for Sleuth on top of its existing ranked multiplayer mode, being held as part of the quad-annual DIGIMADO event series. (Habu did not specify if the first version of the game launched in Japan, or the Taiwanese Sleuth that came out earlier this year, will be compatible with the English game.)

As in his numerouspastinterviews, Habu emphasized that the decision to localize Cyber Sleuth was motivated primarily by the Operation Decode fan petition. In choosing which Digimon players could choose to start the game with, Habu avoided choosing the most popular Digimon, instead making the iconic Agumon and Gabumon play a key storyline role. The starters for Sleuth were instead based around the traditional Vaccine-Virus-Data element triangle, which has had a background role in the Digimon games for many years. Habu also explained that as players clear the game additional times, they will be able to gain additional items and Digimon with each successive playthrough.